Last November, in support of NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg’s Long Term Adaptation initiative, the United States developed a proposal to establish a new intelligence post – the Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security (ASG-I&S) – at NATO Headquarters. They envision the ASG-I&S as a strong, empowered, strategic-minded leader who will better enable the Alliance’s intelligence enterprise to anticipate and respond to myriad complex intelligence and security challenges. In addition to designing the new ASG-I&S, the NATO intelligence community over the past six months developed a new intelligence doctrine known as the Overarching Intelligence Policy (OIP). They are very pleased that at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council last week, all 28 nations approved the ASG-I&S and the OIP. Their approval now paves the way for heads of state and government to announce these two complementary intelligence reform efforts at the upcoming NATO Warsaw Summit.

NATO allies have agreed to establish a new joint intelligence and security division to better position the U.S.-led alliance to respond to evolving threats by more effectively sharing information.

The decision is included in the 32-page Warsaw Declaration adopted by leaders at the two-day summit that concluded Saturday.

It adds: “The new Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security will direct NATO’s intelligence and security activities, ensuring better use of existing personnel and resources, while maximizing the efficient use of intelligence provided by allies.”

NATO is establishing a permanent JISR system providing information and intelligence to key decision-makers, helping them make well-informed, timely and accurate decisions.

JISR brings together data and information gathered through projects such as NATO’s Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) system or NATO AWACS aircraft as well as a wide variety of national JISR assets from the space, air, land and maritime domains.